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42. Fear, Security and the Apocalyptic World View: The Cold War's Cultural Impact and Legacy
- Author:
- Paul S. Boyer
- Publication Date:
- 03-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues
- Abstract:
- In 1967, Louis Halle published a book called The Cold War as History. If that title seemed jarring and premature in 1967, it would simply appear obvious and conventional today. The Cold War is receding from our collective consciousness with breathtaking rapidity. Cold War encyclopedias are appearing; an Oxford Companion to the Cold War will doubtless arrive at any moment. To the college freshmen of 2000 — seven years old when Ronald Reagan left the White House — the Cold War is merely a chapter in a textbook, an hour on the History Channel, not lived experience.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Cold War, and Communism
- Political Geography:
- Russia and United States
43. Future Visions for U.S. Defense Policy : Four Alternatives Presented as Presidential Speeches
- Author:
- John Hillen and Lawrence Korb
- Publication Date:
- 09-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Since the end of the Cold War, our defense policy has been formulated on an ad hoc basis without a clear underpinning. This piecemeal way of doing things has caused problems and frustrations both at home and abroad. Our Congress, military, allies, adversaries, and potential adversaries are confused about the lack of consistency. You and your opponents expressed similar concerns during the campaign.
- Topic:
- Cold War
- Political Geography:
- United States
44. Redefining Sovereignty . The Use of Force After the End of the Cold War. New Options, Lawful and Legitimate?
- Publication Date:
- 11-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- The conference was organised by the Institute for International Affairs (IAI) with the support of the Centre for High Defence Studies (CASD), the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the NATO Office for Information and Press and the Thyssen Foundation. It was held in Rome, at the Centre for High Defence Studies, on 24 and 25 November 2000.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, NATO, Cold War, Human Rights, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- United States, Germany, and Rome
45. Is Readiness Overrated? Implications for a Tiered Readiness Force Structure
- Author:
- James L. George
- Publication Date:
- 04-1999
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Readiness, the capability to respond quickly to a conflict with the appropriate force, is considered one of the most important elements in defense planning. From one-third to well over one-half of the defense budget goes toward maintaining readiness. Few people questioned the need for readiness, especially after the attack by North Korea against South Korea in 1950 and during the Cold War, when the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact was poised to quickly thrust into Western Europe without much warning.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, and Cold War
- Political Geography:
- United States, South Korea, North Korea, and Western Europe
46. Tilting at Windmills: Post-Cold War Military Threats to U.S. Security
- Author:
- Ivan Eland
- Publication Date:
- 02-1999
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Serious military threats to U.S. security have diminished dramatically since the end of the Cold War. The threat from conventional Russian military forces has all but disintegrated and would take many years to reconstitute. China would take 20 to 30 years to transform its bloated and obsolete military into a major threat to U.S. vital interests. The militaries in both nations should be watched, but they may never develop into credible threats.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, Cold War, Nuclear Weapons, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States
47. U.S. Foreign Policy: Long Cycles — What Might They Mean for World Long Cycles?
- Author:
- Jack E. Holmes, Kevin Joldersma, and Aaron Keck
- Publication Date:
- 03-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- The author has studied U.S. foreign policy long cycles for two decades and has an extensive database covering 1776-1990. A good deal of attention has been paid to U.S. foreign policy in the post-1945 setting where the U.S. is a world superpower. Now that the U.S. has been freed from the immediate demands of the Cold War, it is important to study American policy over the long run, especially the period before 1945. This paper uses conclusions from the author's previous work to raise issues which have implications for the study of world long cycles. Particular attention is given to consensus (societal/governmental) variables since the U.S. is one of the few countries with a long history under the same written constitution. The American experience indicates that the U.S. is inclined toward independent action as sometimes dictated by domestic considerations. While it is clear that the U.S. will act as a superpower in part due to the nature of the international system, it is important to consider some uniquely American features which also have an important impact on policy. The author's work includes two books on long-term American foreign policy trends. The first one, The Mood/Interest Theory of American Foreign Policy, was published in 1985. It presented a general theory regarding how and why introvert and extrovert foreign policy moods alternate every two decades. This theory, as well as the dates of the cycles, is based on the work of Frank L. Klingberg (1952). Klingberg elaborates on his cycles in later works (1983 and 1996). Since the 1985 work contained a good deal of theory, it was thought that a more empirical study of these trends would be in order. Toward this end, the author created over 150 variables which have been given annual values for at least 150 years. These variables were based on the work of other authors and compilations of data. The resulting work, Ambivalent America, which has been the basis for several convention papers and is nearing completion as a book, raises a second set of conclusions which supplement those of the first book. At the same time, several authors have investigated world long cycles and raised a number of important issues. Most of these authors emphasize the period since the start of major European influence on the world while others go back prior to that period. With the exceptions of works by Klingberg and this author, however, similar attention has not been given to American trends. Pollins and Schweller (1997) do explore some issues relating to interactions of American and world cycles. The author believes that a conceptual comparison of American long cycles with world long cycles will raise some important issues, and that is the purpose of this paper.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Cold War
- Political Geography:
- United States
48. Turkey: Thwarted Ambition
- Author:
- Simon V. Mayall
- Publication Date:
- 01-1997
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- At the end of the Cold War every country was forced to reexamine the fundamental assumptions that had formed their security policies for the last 45 years. Among the "victors" of the Cold War, few countries were faced with a more disparate set of new circumstances than Turkey. Unlike the United States and Western Europe, "victory" for Turkey had a very ambivalent quality. Almost overnight Turkey moved from being the buttressing flank of one strategic region, to the epicenter of a new one.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, Cold War, International Law, Nuclear Weapons, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- United States and Turkey
49. Clausewitzian Friction and Future War
- Author:
- Barry D. Watts
- Publication Date:
- 10-1996
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- Since the end of the U.S.-Soviet Cold War, there has been growing discussion of the possibility that technological advances in the means of combat would produce ftmdamental changes in how future wars will be fought. A number of observers have suggested that the nature of war itself would be transformed. Some proponents of this view have gone so far as to predict that these changes would include great reductions in, if not the outright elimination of, the various impediments to timely and effective action in war for which the Prussian theorist and soldier Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) introduced the term "friction." Friction in war, of course, has a long historical lineage. It predates Clausewitz by centuries and has remained a stubbornly recurring factor in combat outcomes right down to the 1991 Gulf War. In looking to the future, a seminal question is whether Clausewitzian friction would succumb to the changes in leading-edge warfare that may lie ahead, or whether such impediments reflect more enduring aspects of war that technology can but marginally affect. It is this question that the present essay will examine.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, Cold War, Government, and International Law
- Political Geography:
- United States, Soviet Union, and Southeast Asia
50. Checklist for the Future of Intelligence
- Author:
- John Hollister Hedley
- Publication Date:
- 01-1995
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
- Abstract:
- A changing world fraught with new uncertainties and complexities challenges America to understand the issues and dangers U.S. foreign and defense policy must confront. Economically and politically, however, it is a fact of life that the United States must engage the post-Cold War world with a smaller, more cost-efficient intelligence capability than the 13-organization, $28-billion-dollar intelligence apparatus of today. This might be achieved by a meat-cleaver approach—such as across-the-board cuts based on the erroneous assumption that every part of the apparatus is equally dispensable or indispensable. Preferably, it can—and will—be accomplished by prudently eliminating redundancy and by abandoning missions no longer deemed essential or affordable.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Cold War, Intelligence, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States and America